Field Trip: the Reuter Organ Company

The Reuter Organ Company is a local company of Lawrence, Kansas since 1917. They have designed and built around 22,000 custom organs and repaired about the same amount of organs. They design, build, and sell organs that are commissioned by people all around the globe. It is one of the only four companies in the U.S. that provide the full package of original parts manufactured and built by the company .
 
The Reuter Organ Company usually designs and builds organs for the specific setting and surroundings. Clients usually include churches, auditoriums, colleges, and sometimes even a private residence. The prices usually range from $500,000 to about $2,000,000.

The Reuter Organ Company manufactures their own material and parts for building an organ. The pipes of the organ are divided into two categories, pipes that are 4 feet or less, and the ones that are 4 feet and above. Pipes that are 4 feet and below are made with an alloy of 50% tin and 50% lead. This formula is used so that it sounds good, but other companies might use different formulas. They start of as ingots that are smelted, and then poured and cooled off as sheets of metal.  The longer pipes are made out of copper, since the length and weight of the pipe can only be sustained by using a stronger metal. After the materials are created, they are hammered onto a circular mold until they form the shape of a pipe. After that, they will be welded and sealed off to complete the function of a pipe.

The wood that is used in the organs would be designated by the client, as they do not directly affect how the organ functions as an instrument. The wood would only affect how the exterior of the organ looks, and not how it sounds. The keys of the organ also only affect the looks and not the performance of the instrument. They come in bone, wood, or plastic depending on the look and overall aesthetics of the instrument compared to the surroundings of the organ.

One of the main attractions to the Reuter Organ Company is the CNC Router that is used to cut specific patterns on the wood panels that would be displayed on the exterior of the organ. This method is more efficient than hand cutting the patterns, since only a computer and a designed program will be required to do any complex pattern. This takes out a lot of the errors that can be encountered while cutting out patterns by hand.

Overall, on this trip to the factory of the organs, I got an idea of the time it takes to hand make and create a product that is long lasting and well designed. The profit of making organs is very scarce. Yet despite that, these people still put in the effort and love into creating these products, so that they can truly make a wonderful product that will serve a lifetime.